Isaiah 61:1-4
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor;
he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor,
and the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all who mourn;
to grant to those who mourn in Zion—
to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit;
that they may be called oaks of righteousness,
the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.
They shall build up the ancient ruins;
they shall raise up the former devastations;
they shall repair the ruined cities,
the devastations of many generations.
The good news. That's what we call the gospel, it is the good news that we are sent to proclaim. And it's the good news that the prophet Isaiah is talking about. He says, The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has appointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor, and the day of vengeance of our God. What is this good news. To help us understand this, the gospel of Luke is pretty helpful. Jesus actually quotes it. In Luke chapter four, Jesus goes to his hometown of Nazareth, it's a Sabbath day. So he's in the synagogue. And they asked him to read, he opens up the scroll to the prophet Isaiah, and he says, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners, and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. You may have noticed that there's a little bit of a difference there. Jesus talks about recovery of sight for the blind. That's not in Isaiah 61. That's the difference between the Septuagint, which is the Greek Old Testament that the Church used during its first centuries, and what we have as the Hebrew now today, they have different manuscript traditions. But what we see is that the prophet Isaiah was not thinking just about the good news for people coming out of exile. But the good news through Jesus Christ. And the good news of Jesus Christ is very different from good news that others might seek, especially if you are good news for the poor, for the blind, and for the capital. Because not all those who are poor, not all those who are rich, or wealthy, not all those who are free of liberty. And not all those who are sighted can see. Because the gospel of Jesus Christ is the thing that frees us. So let's start with that. He says to bring good news to the poor. What is that good news. A story from Mark chapter 12 helps us to see what good news for the poor is. Jesus is sitting near the temple and are watching people put in offerings. Many people come up and they put in large sums. And it goes, and a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny and he called his disciples to him and said to them, Truly I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box, for they all contributed out of their abundance. But she, out of her poverty, has put in everything she had all she had to live on. What can cause a person to do this? I think if if someone looked at this situation, they see a widow with only two coins that add up to a penny and you go what are you doing? This is crazy. This is all the money you have to live on. And you put it in the offering box. What about your children? What about your future? Isn't that crazy? Is that the kind of thing that you would do? If you pulled out your bank statement? And you found one cent there. Give up everything that you have to live on. The question is, how could this widow do such an amazing thing? Because the gospel of Jesus Christ Some good news for the poor. She had something, riches that are greater than any amount of money could be. She had faith in a God, who would take care of her. The widow trusted that the true God would be there for her. And that he would offer her a future, he would offer her something that she could hold on to that he would take care of. The wealthy who trust in their wealth, they're not rich. They don't have any. They have far less than that poor widow did. Because Jesus Christ's riches, are greater than anything we could ever want. He promises a day when he comes and gives us the whole world. Whether you are rich or poor, now, doesn't matter. The good news for the poor is that Jesus is coming. He will take care of us. He gives us salvation. Not everyone who has lots of money has true riches.
What about the blind, that Jesus came to restore sight? There's a story in John chapter nine where Jesus comes up to a man born blind. He goes to the man, he makes mud, puts it on his eyes, and he tells the man to go wash in the pool. The man goes off and he washes his eyes off, and all of a sudden, he can see. But the story isn't about the man being able to see in the miracle that Jesus does does. The real story is about the reaction to it. After Jesus heals the man, the Pharisees call him and they get mad about this. They get upset. Can you imagine? A man comes he's been blind from his birth, and all of a sudden they can see and they're angry. Can you believe it? But they were angry because he did it on the Sabbath. So they call him in front of them they and it says, so for the second time they called the man who had been born blind and said to him, give glory to God, we know that this man is a sinner. That is Jesus. The blind man answered, whether he is a sinner, I do not know. One thing I do know that though I was blind. Now I see. They said to him, what did he do to you? How did he open your eyes? He answered them. I told you already and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples? And they reviled him. What a statement. This man, he was not well read in the Scriptures, obviously, because he had been blind his whole life. He did not have a complex theology of who Jesus was. He simply knew one thing. One thing I do know, he says, that though I was blind, now I see. Isn't that fake? Jesus had come to Him and given Him a miracle. But the miracle wasn't that his eyes were opened and that he could see. The true miracle was that Jesus revealed Himself to him as his Savior. That's what happens now. Jesus heard that they had cast him out. And having found him he said, Do you believe in the Son of Man? The blind man answered? Who is he, sir, that I may believe in Him. Jesus said to him, you have seen him and it is he who is speaking to you. He said, Lord, I believe and he worshipped him. Then Jesus says to those who are around for judgment, I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see and those who see may become blind. Some of the Pharisees heard him near him heard these things and said to him, are we also blind? Jesus said to them, if you are blind, you would have no guilt. But now that you say we see your guilt remains Not all who are sighted can see this blind man, you could see, because the true gifts is not the vision that comes from his eyes, or having the photons that bounce off particles hit your retinas. The true vision is understanding who Jesus is that he brings resurrection from the dead and eternal life and that he is the center of our life. He is the good news that gives us life. It's not just the poor. It's not just the blind. But it's also those who are in prison that Jesus has come to proclaim liberty. There's another story from the, from the Bible that talks about that, where Paul and Silas were in prison. Paul and Silas had been going out on their missionary journeys. And in Acts chapter 16, they get to a town of Philippi. In the town of Philippi, they are preaching and teaching, and a slave girl who is filled with a demon follows them around shouting, these are the servants of the Most High God, listen to them. Paul gets annoyed, like you would write someone walking around shouting all this time. And he says get out of her and the demon leaves. For me, I have to say, isn't that a weird reason to cast a demon out of someone? Like, lady, you are so annoying, I'm gonna cast this demon out. Yeah, I think it's weird. But it creates a problem. The owner of the girl was using her to tell fortunes. And this created quite a bit of income. And when the demon was gone, he could no longer sell those services. So he gets people excited, goes to the authorities and Paul and Silas are arrested. They're put in this inner part of the prison. And not only that, they are fastened their feet into stocks. This is an extra level of imprisonment. So not only are they locked behind bars, but they're also cuffed around their feet. Maybe even their hands too. I don't know about you. I think if that happened to me, I'd be pretty upset. If I were locked for no good reason inside a prison and then and then put together in chains. I might be a little depressed. I might be a little angry. I certainly wouldn't be happy. This is what the Bible says. About midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God. And the prisoners were listening to them singing hymns to God. Can you believe it? Paul and Silas, singing probably the Psalms, prayers, praises to God and that horrible situation. Because not all the people who are free have liberty. And not all those who are in prison or without freedom. You could stick Paul and Silas wherever you want it in the deepest, darkest dungeon. And they would always be free because they have Christ. Same is for us. The gospel of Jesus Christ is freedom in all our circumstances, because we have a Savior, who lived and died for us. And what's really cool about this story is that God comes and brings freedom to these men who are already free. An earthquake happens, the doors pop open, and their chains follow. Now I don't know about you. But I think the last time we had an earthquake, it did not open up handcuffs. But that's what happens here. And when Paul and Silas go free, what do they do with it? They use that opportunity to bring the Gospel to their jailer and that man is baptized along with the rest of his family. So that's the good news of Jesus Christ. It's not about giving money. It's not about getting people out of jail or helping people see With our eyes. The good news of Jesus Christ is a freedom that each one of us has, in all our circumstances. Because not all the people who are free, have liberty. Not all those who are sighted can actually see. Not all the rich are truly wealthy. The good news of Jesus Christ, it's only they who have that. It's only us who have the sight to be able to see God at work in our lives and the process, the promise of the resurrection, who have the riches of the kingdom to come and freedom in our Savior, despite all our circumstances. In Jesus name, Amen.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai